Misao of the Fire Nation
by Julyza
Summary: The romance between Iroh II and his consort, Lady Misao Nakamura. Or how prim and proper Prince Iroh ended up married to notorious flapper, Mimi Nakamura.
1. Chapter 1

"What's so shocking that Princess Yue just ordered the cook to make the Duke's favorite breakfast?" Uma, the maid from Dragon Flats, tidying up the throw pillows on the window seat asked the maid doing the bed.

"You would've heard everything if you hadn't been late, but lucky for you I was there when the third footman came in with today's paper." Ming Lee, the Fire Nation Maid, pretends to straighten a frame near the door and verifies that no one is lurking about before spilling the beans. Spirits know the Lady of the House had a habit of appearing out of thin air.

Uma had been employed long enough to experience most of Mimi Nakamura's greatest hits, but not long enough to understand that Yue II, Princess Royal of the Water Tribes ,daughter in law to the Fire Nation Councilwoman, and Duchess of Chung Ling could sense when Ming Lee was about to open her mouth.

"Princess Mimi has done it again, Spirits, I don't know how the family hasn't gone under with so many scandals. This one takes the cake, I think, making out with prim and proper Prince Iroh like some cheap floozy," Ming Lee shakes her head and Uma's green eyes go wide in horror.

If Prince Iroh the Younger was the picture of what a gentleman should be, then Lady Misao Nakamura was the embodiment of what a flapper girl should be. Logic dictates that a boy like that wouldn't do well with a girl like that, but it seemed even the son of Avatar Aang's eldest child, Commander Bumi, could get his head turned by a pretty skirt.

"Oh, Spirits, if the last one didn't kill her grandfather, lets pray this one won't make the Councilwoman a widow." Uma answers once she has regained composure.

It was no secret that Lady Misao, affectionately called Princess Mimi by everyone, loved causing a riot since the day she was born. Whether it was cutting her hair into a bob, or running off with a man she met twice, Princess Mimi sure kept the staff wondering if there would be another funeral in the household.

She was a sweet girl, with her heart in the right place, and her works as a nurse in the poorest part of town proved just how much Princess Mimi cared about people, but the girl had taken to the Jazz Age just like a fish to water. If only the Masters of the House hadn't been so lenient with their youngest daughter, she would've been a perfect lady, just like her sister, the Princess Hisa.

"Well then, we should also pray Prince Iroh doesn't find himself shackled to our dear Princess Mimi,"Ming Lee quips.

Good thing the Royal family's status was hanging by thread and his future wife would have to be perfect Fire Nation Girl and not the ultra-modern and quite foreign Mimi Nakamura.

* * *

I originally wrote Misao of the Fire Nation and was like six chapters in and then I had a massive writer's block that led me to delete it ,and now I am back with a new fic, with the recycled characters. Let's hope this one gives me enough juice to make a story out of it. I apologize for the short chapter,but this fic just seems like something that should have a short prologue. Don't worry the next one will be longer.


	2. Chapter 2

I was not going to hear the end of this one. Why? Because the daughter of a Water Tribe Princess, granddaughter of the first female council member, and cousin to the Avatar, can't even breathe without making a headline.

Ok, maybe I was exaggerating a bit, but not many girls have had their first menstrual cycle announced in a gossip column because one of the maids got too chatty with her friends.

Occasionally, I make headlines for foolishly thinking I won't get caught, but I always do and sometimes they refuse any amount of Yuans or special favors we try to bribe them with. Other days, I do so on purpose to make my parents change their mind about something.

This one might blow the rest out of the water, but unlike the previous one, I didn't do it on purpose.

This is worse than what I did in the Southern Water Tribe six months ago and me getting drunk in Ba Sing Se -where Queen Hou-Ting has prohibited all alcohol, no wonder the old wolf bat is so bitter- two weeks before that.

I don't think this would be covered up with a private donation, special interview or even throwing the offending paparazzo into the prison. What's worse, the Thing happened on Friday night and the newspaper published it Sunday morning, and I hadn't planned that my weekend off would probably get me fired on Monday.

The entire purpose of moving to Republic City was to keep a low profile for almost eloping with Varrick, yes that Varrick. Why did I convince the eccentric billionaire to run away with me? Well, it has to do with a widowed Hiroshi Sato wanting to buy his spot in polite society by marrying into the family with claims to the Fire Nation Crown and both Water Tribes.

Of course, I had been in the that freezing hell for getting drunk and resisting arrest at a speakeasy in Ba Sing Se. I had been visiting my father's favorite sister, the Countess Ayame, and got sidetracked by a few friends from my nursing school. Before I knew it the Dai Li were raiding the place and I chi-blocked one of them resulting in me being in prison for the night.

Did I learn my lesson? Not really, but that is not the point.

The point is, none of my screw ups has involved royalty, especially the Fire Lord's twenty-four-year-old grandson.

I know I shouldn't have been at a party like the ones the Baron Young throws or alone with a man when all five newspapers are in attendance at the party. I know I was supposed to be home, enjoying the last night my parents would spend in the City before mother left to visit Uncle Tonraq in the South and daddy would return to our castle in Fire Fountain ,but I can't resist a good party.

Worst of all, I know I shouldn't have kissed Prince Iroh -in my defense, he was the one who kissed me, but no one seems to care.

I don't regret it, I like Iroh and he is -surprisingly- a good kisser, but I really hate getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

"Her Highness, the Princess Yue, cancelled her visit South and His Grace, the Duke, has postponed his return to the Fire Nation." Ai, my lady's maid, said softly as she helped me dress for breakfast.

"On a scale from one to ten, how bad is it?" It wasn't even ten in the morning and already my dishonorable conduct was the talk of the town, or so Ai had warned me.

Just one night of fun, like any normal twenty-one-year-old girl would have in this city, and now I am the half-breed harlot of Republic City. Who knew I would cause as much trouble as my long dead namesake?

It was my dad's fault for naming me after his Aunt Misao -who not only was the twenty-four-year-old wife of Fire Lord Ozai, but also eloped with a Water Tribe warrior after her husband's defeat. With a such a reputation to uphold -and two previous offenses- they had to expect this from me.

At Least, I haven't published a memoir where I describe everything, from the most scandalous tales of the Fire Nation Court to every detail of my attempted coup.

The Scandalous Lady M is banned in in the Earth Kingdom, most proper households and libraries. It's quite a good book, I must to say.

My mother claimed I wouldn't have been so reckless if my name had been Huian, like my utterly subservient late maternal grandmother. Although my sister, Hisa, had been the one to bare our paternal grandmother's name, and she has none of her greed and prejudice against non-benders.

"The Councilwoman will be coming for breakfast and has sent instructions ahead of her arrival regarding possible escapes from your ladyship."

I escaped only once, and now I am to be held under lock and key until my matter is resolved. I only hope Iroh is suffering a worse fate.

"That bad," I sigh, it had been something out of a fairytale, now with it on every newspaper from here to the Poles and my grandmother involved, it had become a nightmare.

"Is he a good kisser?" Ai, asked, acting more like my friend and less than a servant almost five years my senior. A lady's maid was the closest person to the Lady they served and sometimes they were great friends, and Ai -having been my lady's maid since I could remember- was no exception.

I blush remembering my magical night with the Prince, "Oh, Ai, it was magical! We had been trying to get away from the crowds, you know Baron Young always draws such a crowd when he throws a party, when he took me to the gazebo in the gardens.

It was far away from the house, but not so far that we couldn't hear the music and it had these beautiful chandelier, Iroh, sorry, Prince Iroh, lit with his bending.

Oh, Ai, it was something straight out of a fairytale!"

I try not to move as Ai does my hair, the same brown waves I have been dying to cut in a fashionable bob -again- but can't because I promised mother not to cut it -again- for the rest of the year.

'Proper ladies don't have little boy hair, darling,' my mother, the Northern Water Tribe Ambassador to the Fire Nation and a Princess in her own right, had said when I came home with a surprise haircut. You should've heard what she told me when I wore one of my new dresses at Queen Hou-Ting's birthday earlier this summer.

"He asked me to dance, like the perfect prince he is, and we danced like we were the only people in the world. The band then started playing love songs and before I knew it, he kissed me."

My dreamy sigh turns into a groan,"and before I could kiss him back, the stupid man with the stupid camera had taken the stupid picture and Prince Iroh dropped me like I was a hot potato.

I felt like Ye Xian when the fish bones went silent after she lost the golden slipper."

"If I remember correctly, Ye Xian eventually married the King, maybe my lady will marry the prince?" she looks hopeful, as if she was unaware that Fire Lady Misao had tried taking over the Fire Nation thus painting us as usurpers for the rest of eternity.

"Agni forbid, arranged marriages are so out of fashion."

* * *

Ye Xian, is a chinese folktale and their version of cinderella.

Yes, I rewrote some of this chapter on January 14,2020


	3. Chapter 3

My dear Zuzu,

I will not waste ink on pleasantries, so I will get right to the point.

My grandnephew, much like our late father, has been entrapped by a Nakamura Girl.

It seems like the Ice Princess wasn't satisfied with the Prince of Omashu and the Cabbage Corp Heiress, and would like to add Izumi's boy to her collection. If you don't believe me, this week's newspapers can't seem to talk about anything else.

The newspapers are having a field day with this speculation and many of the lower class have bought the story. This leaves us with the unfortunate option of ruining their reputations by denying it -although the lady in question can hardly ruin hers any more than her previous headliners have done- or making this so called 'fairytale romance' real.

I do hope you will drag our beloved Iroh back home before he goes and does something worse, like run off with the scullery maid or something.

My warmest regards,

Azula

* * *

"Of all the young ladies, you had to set your sights on a Nakamura." She shook her head and moved her tile on the Pai Sho board.

He couldn't even enjoy a Pai Sho match with his aunt without someone bringing it up.

Iroh sighed for the billionth time that morning. It wasn't enough that he had to be dragged onto an airship in the dead of night by his father, no, he had to have all his relatives tell him he had messed up. Even his Aunt Kya had called, and she normally doesn't care about shit like that.

"Misao isn't like her family, in fact, her family isn't as awful as everyone believes. Except maybe for her grandmother, but my point is that Mimi didn't seduce me or anything of that sort.

I wanted to make a romantic gesture because I love her, but instead I ruined both our lives."

Iroh took a moment to decide his next move. He was losing at Pai Sho, his namesake must be mortified if he is watching from the Spirit World.

"I don't have to tell you what you have lost because of what you did," Azula tutted, and in one swoop took at least three tiles. Time may not have been kind to her physically, but it had not addled her mind.

He was a Captain in the Fire Nation Army and at the age his parents had to serve as diplomatic envoys and interim ambassadors to other countries.

Just one slip and now he was an irresponsible young man who shouldn't be trusted.

"I know, Auntie, and I know thanks to my own lack of caution I won't be invested as Crown Prince this year. I think everyone and their ostrich horse has told me that."

With his grandfather abdicating at the end of spring, Iroh would have been invested as Crown Prince on the summer solstice, a month after his mother is crowned Fire Lord. Instead, his investiture would have to be after his wedding next year.

* * *

"You must believe how sorry I am. I never meant for any of this to happen. I swear, I didn't do this on purpose."

I liked to do my groveling before breakfast, as the entire thing would be a very awkward affair if I put it off for later. Besides, I was truly repentant of my actions, but by looking at my parent's faces I can tell that a trembling lip and a few tears wouldn't do it this time.

The matron of the nurses' home and the Dragon Flats clinic had already called to fire me, and one of the maids along with her husband, the Valet, would be picking up my things before noon.

I guess I won't be flirting with Noatak -the handsome young doctor who could blood bend- at the Clinic anymore. Not that it was ever going to be anything more than just harmless flirting with someone I believe might not be interested in women or men, now that I think about it.

I wonder where it will be this time. Omashu with my sister, the bungalow in Si Wong with Aunt Ikumi, the Northern Water Tribe with Uncle Unalaq or any of the properties we own. I'll be fine as long as its not the Estate in on the other side of Shuhon, I can't stand being in company of my father for more than a week.

I hope it's the villa near the Sun Warrior Ruins, I have been dying to sketch them.

Either way, I will be kept under guard to avoid shaming the family...any further.

The only thing that makes me feel better is that Iroh is probably suffering the same fate at the Fire Nation.

Ai says the cook's assistant heard from her brother at the air ship docks that Commander Bumi dragged him onto one by his ears. At least my parents are too dignified to do such a thing.

"I am afraid no apology could make this better. The Fire Lord and his family will be the ones to fix this mess." Grandmama sure loved to make an entrance.

"Oh." That is the only thing I can respond with, any witty response died in my tongue and left me with that monosyllable. Usually my grandmother can make the whole thing disappear within the day, no wonder things have been slow.

The Right Honorable Hisa Nakamura, former Duchess of Shuhon and the first woman to be part of the United Republic Council, was a force to be reckoned with.

If only she could set aside her prejudices and fix the United Republic like she erased all knowledge of my elopement this past winter.

The Nakamuras are a matriarchal sort of family,even before the Great war. Grandmama married to her distant and only male cousin -a Doctor from Republic City and the heir to what should have been hers in the first place- who had no mind for the politics happily left all that responsibility on my then 20 year old grandmother who had a bright future in public office. A match made in the Spirit World; one could say.

Shame, my current suitors are either the eccentric millionaire who is having an affair with his assistant or the middle-aged millionaire in need of a male heir.

"In the meantime, you will be going to stay with at the Townhouse in the Capital where you will not leave the premises until your matter is resolved. "

As far as punishments go, this isn't as bad as I thought.

* * *

This chapter was redone for the most part, because I wasn't satisfied with its previous version.

Feel free to review and tell me what y'all think.


	4. Chapter 4

_The gazebo in the garden with its candle chandelier-which was sadly unlit- was a safe distance from the mansion, but not so far away we can't hear the jazz band playing._

_With a flick of his wrist he lights the chandelier filling the gazebo in warm and soft firelight._

_It's something out of a fairytale._

_ "Dance with me." He offers me everything and nothing at the same time._

_"I wouldn't dream of doing anything else." I take his hand breathlessly, having been swept off my feet by such a grand romantic gesture. _

_It's a perfect moment, with no one else in our own little world as we laugh and dance to the tune of a jazz band not so far away._

* * *

I have been in the Capital for more than a week and still no word from the Fire Lord's Secretary nor a specific member of the Royal Family who owes me both an apology and an explanation.

Until there are further instructions and an audience with whomever the fuck is taking care of this mess, I am not allowed to leave the townhouse. Not even to the garden outside or the terrace in my suite.

Which is why I am melodramatically sprawled on my massive pink bed with my sister, Hisa, while Ai plays something soothing on my thirteen-string _Koto._

It's not so bad, my sister Hisa has come to save me from dying of boredom thus giving me a confidante in my time of need. My brother and his wife, Eun, will be visiting soon and Eun wasn't so bad once you got past the tackiness that often came with new money.

"He said the L word. Do you think he meant it?" This conversation was to remain a secret between my sister, my lady's maid and myself.

After the second chauffeur was sacked for selling the gossip one of the housemaids told him, Ai thought it appropriate to make it just a bit more complicated for anyone to hear us, which was why she was playing the _koto_.

I don't deserve Ai.

"Only he can tell you whether or not he meant the L word, but is it mutual?" Hisa's voice is soft, slightly drowsy because all this lazing around has made her sleepy, but alert enough to remind me that I can confide in her and know she won't tell anyone else.

"I want to think I do, I did in that moment, but what if whatever we feel for each other doesn't last and it ruins our friendship?" I hadn't told anyone, not even Ai, that I had feelings for Iroh.

I could tell her anything else, yet I couldn't bring myself to say the damn words even to a third party. They hadn't been strong enough for me to say the L word, but if that paparazzi hadn't interrupted us, I would've said them back.

Bold Princess Mimi afraid of even admitting she had fallen in love with the Fire Prince. What a strange time we are living in!

"Friendship is a good, solid foundation for a healthy relationship and most especially, long-lasting love. Shu and I were good friends before we realized we had been in love with each other for so long. Then his grandmother finally died, and we could marry without objections." Hisa smiled wistfully, he had proposed to her just as the Dowager's death was announced throughout the world. A good omen as the Dowager had been just as terrible as her younger sister, Hou-Ting.

"Do you think they will let us be together?"

* * *

Iroh, like his mother and grandmother, had been raised to be the perfect noble and as the second in line for the five-pronged flame, he was not allowed to dishonor his family.

The Royal Forces were his escape, with his jet-black hair cut according to both fashion and military standards he could pass almost unnoticed. He could sneak off to parties, have a cigarette and a few drinks with his friends and best of all avoid all the unwanted attention his status gave him.

Iroh hated having to grow out his hair for his mother's coronation and then keep it shoulder length until after both his wedding and his investiture as Crown Prince.

He sighs, 365 days more and he will finally stop worrying about hair ties.

His wedding.

If things had gone according to plan, he wouldn't be proposing a week after confessing his feelings to her.

Iroh had gone to Republic City expecting to meet a vain self-serving girl in place of the wild child he had been friends with. He had never been so happy to be wrong.

She was a ray of sunshine who was happiest helping people, even going as far as giving up a life of luxury to do something meaningful with her life. Marrying her wouldn't be any trouble at all.

* * *

It_ takes a while for the band to play a romantic ballad, too long in Iroh's opinion._

_Mimi, always the bold one, blushes, her cheeks pink from the dancing and him having pulled her closer to him. Her warm blue eyes never leave his and her ruby red lips have never looked so tempting as they did now._

_He'll never forget the song, not a single word as he sings it softly in her ear. Even if she rejects him or if their relationship doesn't last, he will have to die and be reborn to ever forget this night._

_Misao, regaining her courage, moves the hand on his shoulder to caress his face and in that moment with her lips just inches away from his, he tells her the three words that will change everything._

_"I love you."_

* * *

A Koto is a Japanese instrument composed of usually thirteen silk strings, usually heard in Zen music, which what Ai is playing.

Iroh being a pragmatic military officer would prefer short hair just because long hair is really impractical when it comes to fighting.

Please leave a review, preferably a long one with a lot of concrit. I know Iroh isn't exactly a popular character in the fandom, but I have put a lot of effort in my work and one review goes a long way.


	5. Chapter 5

_"The sunroom was my favorite place in the townhouse. It was only fitting it would be the place where I would have to be proposed to after being told why he is proposing after three months of seeing each other._

_I fell in love with the Prince sometime during the three months pretending we were just friends and I didn't bring myself to admit them until we were coerced into marriage._

_I guess right now is the perfect moment to take you were it all started. I was going to do the whole in medias res, but I believe if you have bought this sorry excuse of a memoir you were hoping for something worth your money._

_A spring picnic in our estate thrown for the sake of charity, cherry blossom viewing and forcing me into Iroh's company."_

\- an excerpt of Fire Lady Misao's memoir,_ Mimi_

* * *

_Three months prior to the events of chapter 1, early spring_

"Some friends and I are going to go to the beach in about ten minutes, would you like to come?"

I asked Iroh who was forced to sit next to me at this dreary charity picnic and had spent most of it pretending not to be harassed by all the matchmaking mothers tossing their female progeny at him.

"How would we leave?" He asks intrigued by the idea and eying his burgundy sports car parked with the rest of the vehicles' belonging to the guests.

"I am inventing an emergency at the clinic, so mother won't ask questions." I take a small plate filled with cherries and look for the footman who usually helps me escape.

Iroh looked at me and realization dawned on him, I may or not had been lying to get out of having tea with him last week. I smooth out my dress with my free hand, ivory just like his leisure suit, and he takes advantage of my distraction to take a cherry from my plate. In his defense, I did steal the last cherry blossom cookie from his plate.

"Would you like to go in my car, I can say I am driving you there, Mimi." He flashed me a smile that would've made me swoon if my governess hadn't broken me out of that habit.

"Grandmama will be ecstatic, she's been dying to get us together." I signal the footman discreetly who makes an excuse to go inside the house and pretend to answer the phone.

I don't know what possessed me to include Iroh in our sneaking out to the beach. It may have been his thinly veiled disgust when he drank jasmine tea or that he was the first man in ages to interest me in the romantic sense. The only other person to interest me romantically was my girlfriend almost three years ago, and I was afraid it could be the last time I feel it and gave in.

Or it could've been the fact that most of my Republic City friends had paired off and I just didn't want to be third wheeling.

My friends were an odd bunch, we didn't care about what people said and in our own ways we didn't belong to the world we were born to. Not the literal world, mind you, I mean the world of opulence, tradition and were reputations are worth more than freedom.

"There's Ting-Ting, and her boyfriend, Lee -who is also her chauffeur. My favorite cousin, Akira, and his lover, Jin. There was supposed to be Asiaq joining us, but her mother found her with the girl in the pro-bending team, and Jissika is meeting us there with her fiancé, Tarrlok."

Akira was dad's nephew by his eldest sister, Suzuki, and in the closet thanks to bigotry and homophobia in the United Republic. Akira was into men and homosexuality was a crime thanks to the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe council members. As far as people knew, Jin was just his very good friend, and Akira would marry Asiaq, who needed to cover the fact she was into women.

"You can enter the estate's garage through that off road and avoid Akira's security detail. They won't say anything, but you never know."

I leaned closer to him and pointed out which road went were. I moved away once I realized that warm pleasant feeling was from leaning on the dashing fire bender who could accidentally kill us if my hand slipped further onto his thigh. I muttered a half-hearted apology and he pretended I hadn't -inadvertently- roused certain, um, feelings.

We finally get to the garage, where Jin and Akira are waiting to take us to their secluded beach- which is the best part of the estate if you ask me.

"I am sorry I am late, but I just had to rescue him from the hospital's charity picnic."

I answered and gestured to Iroh who shook their hands and helped me into the backseat of Akira's yellow roadster.

"Ah, an ally! I really wish Jissika had left Tarrlok on his soapbox, but Prinny here can show him how tolerance and acceptance doesn't kill you. I loved how you cut him off at the ball, your highness." Jin would've hugged Iroh if he wasn't already riding shotgun.

We didn't like Tarrlok, Jissika's fiancé. Tarrlok had made it clear on his opinion about the criminalization of same-sex activity. Considering how my zealot of an uncle has sponsored his education in hopes of succeeding the Water tribes' council member, it made sense Tarrlok would share his views.

He was good looking, smart, and a good conversationalist but, spirits, he was so prejudiced. If it wasn't the queer community, it was non benders and chi-blockers.

"Glad to be of service," Iroh, despite hating his nickname, took it in stride. Having a lesbian aunt and having experienced Tarrlok's politics in his first three or four parties, the fire prince didn't need us to explain why we didn't like the waterbending upstart.

"We'll destroy him in Kuai Ball if starts saying anything with 'I know it sounds offensive,' just make sure not to burn the net." Akira added driving to where the four other guests, a couple of servants are tending to the bar and a couple of guards making sure we didn't drown or get murdered whilst we frolic in the sun.

"If you ask them, they will say it's too Fire Nation and ruins a perfectly good net, but honestly, Jissika's healing is terrible and Tarrlok is even worse at it." I whisper knowing fully well those in the front seat can hear us.

"Good thing you are a nurse." Iroh whispers in response and I giggle an idiot.

Oh great, now I have a crush on him.


	6. Chapter 6

_And for then next two months we pretended we were only just friends. _

_No matter how much I wanted to be with her, my unwillingness to defy grandfather's privy council made it damn near impossible for me to make a move. They wanted me to marry a meek and submissive noblewoman they could control, not the wild ostrich horse of a girl who wore pants to state dinners._

_She kept her feelings at bay as did I. Misao treated me as a very close friend, but as time went on it dawned on me that our feelings were mutual and the only thing stopping us from being together was my own cowardice._

_ By the time Kuei Young had invited us for one last party, I knew it was now or never._

_-an excerpt from Fire Lord Iroh II's private journal_

* * *

Is this my punishment for telling Hisa that I would rather kill myself than be part of grandmama's schemes? I was being dramatic, as usual, and a marriage to Iroh wouldn't really be terrible, but Spirits I loathe my bad luck.

We sit in uncomfortable silence just looking at each other because that's the only thing we are allowed under the Butler's watchful gaze. Mr. Ito has always been a stickler for propriety and all that hog wash, but now he had to make sure I didn't run when Iroh asks me to marry him.

"I'm sorry, Mimi. I wanted to tell you how I feel, and I've made a mess of things." Mess is the understatement of the year. A mess doesn't require getting married to prevent a succession crisis in a dynasty whose position is still touch and go.

Iroh apologizes after explaining why he is proposing to me. He hasn't proposed and I haven't said yes yet, but I am hoping to get to ask him about what happened in the gazebo. Should I do it now or wait until he has put a ring on my finger? Who am I kidding? It's going to be awkward either way.

"Did you mean it? What you said in the gazebo?" I search his face for anything that could tell me that he had really meant the L word. The butler's ears perk up and his brown eyes silently ask me if it really happened. I answer yes, and he gets to confirm it in a few seconds.

Iroh takes my hand resting on the tea table to his lips and kisses my palm tenderly. The gesture alone should answer my question, but I am not satisfied, so I wait for him to say the damn words.

"I love you, Misao. I meant them in the gazebo, and I mean them now, I love you." He punctuates it with another kiss on my hand making me blush profusely and the aging butler clears his throat. Sometimes you could really forget people are always watching you.

My mouth was open, but no words come out. I inwardly panic, as does the butler, the footman behind me and Iroh himself. What I would give to have asked for some liquid courage right now!

"I-I don't know what to say, it's all very sudden." I want to say it back. I can't stand to break his heart. And yet, I don't say it back. At least I didn't thank him like I did to the actress I dated two years ago.

Believe it or not, just because I can make friends easily doesn't mean I am going to know if I am really in love with the guy I had been seeing as 'just friends' for like three months even though we acted more like boyfriend and girlfriend for the last two.

It doesn't help that up until now, I have never felt romantic love for any of four people I have dated. I was sexually attracted to my exes, so I know for a fact that it's not because I might be secretly straight, as one of my exes put it when she dumped me.

I have only felt romantic attraction twice. The first one being the actress, who I wasn't in love with even after being with her for five months, and the second being Iroh, who might be the only person I might love in the romantic sense.

"Don't get me wrong, Iroh. I really do have feelings for you. I just hoped to have more time as I have never been in love before." I bite my bottom lip as I always do when I admit something I, personally, find embarrassing. Like being twenty-one years old and never fallen in love with anyone.

"I know it was all very sudden, but I won't hold it against you." He hides his own doubts as well, but he, just like I do, has hope we will one day love each other as deeply as Jin loves Akira or as Sokka loved Yue ,without the element of tragedy and religion, of course.

"Just know that when I finally do say it, I will mean it with all my heart."

* * *

So, Misao is a gray-romantic bisexual, meaning she rarely feels romantic attraction and is on the aromantic spectrum, but is sexually attracted to both men and women. Now, for some reason, I find Iroh being heteroromantic demisexual or gray-asexual while being when I started writing this fic, bit then I started reading The Candle or The Mirror fanfic series on Ao3 and he became biromantic. Meaning he feels romantic attraction to women and men, but only feels sexual attraction if there is an emotional bond with a specific person.

I hope everyone has been safe these past couple of weeks. Things have been insane what with the Black Lives Matter protests, the coronavirus cases in my county going from 15 to 69 since the last chapter I wrote and the fact that the most recent cases are in the neighborhoods adjacent to mine.


	7. Chapter 7

_And for then next two months we pretended we were only just friends. _

_No matter how much I wanted to be with her, my unwillingness to defy grandfather's privy council made it damn near impossible for me to make a move. They wanted me to marry a meek and submissive noblewoman they could control, not the wild ostrich horse of a girl who wore pants to state dinners._

_She kept her feelings at bay as did I. Misao treated me as a very close friend, but as time went on it dawned on me that our feelings were mutual and the only thing stopping us from being together was my own cowardice._

_ By the time Kuei Young had invited us for one last party, I knew it was now or never._

_-an excerpt from Fire Lord Iroh II's private journal_

* * *

Is this my punishment for telling Hisa that I would rather kill myself than be part of grandmama's schemes? I was being dramatic, as usual, and a marriage to Iroh wouldn't really be terrible, but Spirits I loathe my bad luck.

We sit in uncomfortable silence just looking at each other because that's the only thing we are allowed under the Butler's watchful gaze. Mr. Ito has always been a stickler for propriety and all that hog wash, but now he had to make sure I didn't run when Iroh asks me to marry him.

"I'm sorry, Mimi. I wanted to tell you how I feel, and I've made a mess of things." Mess is the understatement of the year. A mess doesn't require getting married to prevent a succession crisis in a dynasty whose position is still touch and go.

Iroh apologizes after explaining why he is proposing to me. He hasn't proposed and I haven't said yes yet, but I am hoping to get to ask him about what happened in the gazebo. Should I do it now or wait until he has put a ring on my finger? Who am I kidding? It's going to be awkward either way.

"Did you mean it? What you said in the gazebo?" I search his face for anything that could tell me that he had really meant the L word. The butler's ears perk up and his brown eyes silently ask me if it really happened. I answer yes, and he gets to confirm it in a few seconds.

Iroh takes my hand resting on the tea table to his lips and kisses my palm tenderly. The gesture alone should answer my question, but I am not satisfied, so I wait for him to say the damn words.

"I love you, Misao. I meant them in the gazebo, and I mean them now, I love you." He punctuates it with another kiss on my hand making me blush profusely and the aging butler clears his throat. Sometimes you could really forget people are always watching you.

My mouth was open, but no words come out. I inwardly panic, as does the butler, the footman behind me and Iroh himself. What I would give to have asked for some liquid courage right now!

"I-I don't know what to say, it's all very sudden." I want to say it back. I can't stand to break his heart. And yet, I don't say it back. At least I didn't thank him like I did to the actress I dated two years ago.

Believe it or not, just because I can make friends easily doesn't mean I am going to know if I am really in love with the guy I had been seeing as 'just friends' for like three months even though we acted more like boyfriend and girlfriend for the last two.

It doesn't help that up until now, I have never felt romantic love for any of four people I have dated. I was sexually attracted to my exes, so I know for a fact that it's not because I might be secretly straight, as one of my exes put it when she dumped me.

I have only felt romantic attraction twice. The first one being the actress, who I wasn't in love with even after being with her for five months, and the second being Iroh, who might be the only person I might love in the romantic sense.

"Don't get me wrong, Iroh. I really do have feelings for you. I just hoped to have more time as I have never been in love before." I bite my bottom lip as I always do when I admit something I, personally, find embarrassing. Like being twenty-one years old and never fallen in love with anyone.

"I know it was all very sudden, but I won't hold it against you." He hides his own doubts as well, but he, just like I do, has hope we will one day love each other as deeply as Jin loves Akira or as Sokka loved Yue ,without the element of tragedy and religion, of course.

"Just know that when I finally do say it, I will mean it with all my heart."

* * *

So, Misao is a gray-romantic bisexual, meaning she rarely feels romantic attraction and is on the aromantic spectrum, but is sexually attracted to both men and women. Now, for some reason, I find Iroh being heteroromantic demisexual or gray-asexual while being when I started writing this fic. Meaning he only feels romantic attraction to women, but only feels sexual attraction if there is am emotional bond with a specific person.

I hope everyone has been safe these past couple of weeks. Things have been insane what with the Black Lives Matter protests, the coronavirus cases in my county going from 15 to 69 since the last chapter I wrote and the fact that the most recent cases are in the neighborhoods adjacent to mine.


	8. Chapter 8

"Darling, Mimi, why did we have to find out through a newspaper that you and Iroh are getting married? One morning you say you are just friends, then two days later we read you are engaged on the morning newspaper. A fucking newspaper!" Jissika scolds grabbing my shoulders as if trying to shake the answers from me.

Not even forty-eight hours ago the world had found out that Iroh and I are getting married and Ting-Ting had talked Jissika and Asiaq into taking her family's luxury airship coming in record time demanding an explanation.

"I had no idea his mom would put the statement out the next day and I know I messed up, but I hope I can make it up to you with a spa day tomorrow and an explanation in the gardens." I lead them inside the parlor. "Have you tried this glorious thing called iced tea? Someone in Ember Island had the nerve to put ice in cold tea and it is fantastic."

* * *

"So you are saying that because you two were caught smooching just as he finally asked you to be his girlfriend you have to get married even though you don't know if you love him?" Asiaq summarized everything perfectly it saved Mimi the time to explain it.

"Yes, never mind that he told me he loved me like when he proposed, and I couldn't even say it back. Shit, I spilled tea on my skirt." The seriousness of that first sentence is lost when I gesticulate wildly and throw my tea on myself on accident. In hindsight I shouldn't have worn my pale pink sundress knowing how easy it is to stain it.

"You say it like it's the end of the world, Mimi." Jissika continues drinking her iced tea as if nothing were happening. You could always count on dear Jissika to be as cool as a cucumber even if the world were on fire or ,in this case, your hostess spilling tea so cold she can feel it on her stomach despite wearing two typed of undergarments underneath her dress.

"Yes, Misao and don't say you aren't romantically interested in Iroh when you looked like a lovestruck teenager whenever we hung out." Ting-Ting grabs another napkin to blot as much tea as she could before giving up and telling Asiaq to ring for the footman outside." And you have never looked like a lovestruck teenager, not even when we were teenagers and you realized you were into women as well or when you dated she-who-will-not-be-named almost two years ago."

My first ever girlfriend, and only one because , Kazaori, had been an actress with a diamond shaped face, big brown eyes and hair so dark it looked blue in certain lights. Kazaori accused me of being a heartless bitch who couldn't love after I ended things when I realized she was a gold digging whore who slept with both my dad and brother before trying her luck with my naïve nineteen year old self. I should mention that there are rumors she is my dad's shiny new mistress.

"Let's continue this in your bedroom while you change, can't have the footmen know why I missed out on your whirlwind romance with the Prince." Asiaq interrupts and practically drags me out of the sunroom forgetting that same-sex activity is perfectly legal in the Fire Nation. It shouldn't matter if the footmen find out that her parents sent her to a commune at the Southern Air Temple for most of the summer because she was caught fucking a girl with her tongue.

"I am so sorry for the mess I made; I can be such a clutz." I apologize to the footman and the maid sent to clean who nod politely because how else can you respond to your boss.

"May we send your ladies maid to your bedroom, I believe she is doing some mending in the servants hall right now, your ladyship." The footman offers, but I wave him off as I am perfectly capable of dressing myself and in a room with three women one of them can surely unhook my corselet. Of course, I can't say it like that because then they will think I am trying to fire Ai who is supposed to remain my maid even after I become Princess Consort.

Compared to the tailored to perfection s-bend corset I wore as a teenager this corselet damp with tea was a fucking nightmare. Usually my undergarments had side laces or zippers which were easier to loosen, but I had to wear the one with the fifty hooks that required Ai's help to remove it.

"By Yue, Mimi did you put on weight?" Asiaq asked pointing out the red marks on my skin reminding me why I hardly wore it.

"Don't scare me, Asiaq, I am getting my first fitting for my wedding clothes the day after tomorrow. I bought this corselet readymade and it turned out to be smaller than I wanted it to be. I wore it today because my other beige corselets didn't survive the trip from Republic City." I breathed out in relief once Asiaq undid the last of the hooks and I am left in a comfortable slip. "Will you guys come to my first fitting, Hisa might not make it back in time, and Eun needs to be exposed to better noble ladies than the ones in her charity clubs."

"Just don't ask me about fashion advice, because as you see, I don't dress like one." Asiaq shows off her tailored to perfection tweed suit and sits on the couch with Ting-Ting who is flipping through the portfolio detailing half of my new wardrobe for the fall.

"Speaking of weddings, mine is just around the corner and the wedding planners wanted to know if we can count on Prince Iroh accompanying you as your date." Jissika handed me a clean ivory slip, a comfortable hip girdle, and a red dress embroidered with pink peonies. It went perfectly with my shoes and accessories.

"Yes, and we promise not to grab too much attention because it is your special day, so Iroh will not be wearing a headpiece nor his uniform. Same goes for you Ting-Ting," I reply before leading the girls to the parlor adjacent to my room, the one I used to share with Hisa. "Let's go to the parlor. This outfit was way too pretty to waste on my bed and the parlor has enough couches for all of us to lounge on."

"Tarrlok will be so disappointed," Asiaq jokes knowing that even his future wife dislikes his obsession with looking like the embodiment of the Republic City dream.

* * *

A corselet is a foundation garment that combine bras and girdles, these were worn by ladies during the 1920s until the 1960s. these replaced the corsets and usually had garter clips to hold up stockings and straps for the shoulders unless is ended under the bust. the fic on AO3 will have a picture in the notes.

I am so sorry for taking so fucking long to write this. The last time I updated there were roughly seventy cases of coronavirus in my county and now there are 2,500 plus in a place where the only hospital has 45 beds and no icu because we are one of the poorest counties in Texas. I also had coronavirus like a month ago, a week before Hurricane Hana hit my town and now even the smallest tasks leave me drained, my reaction time is slow, and I have occasional trouble with breathing. Oh and my illness was very mild (it lasted like a five days and aside from a prescription for amoxicillin, I didn't require that much medical attention) and I am a technically healthy 22 year old.

This chapter took forever to finish and don't hold it against me as I still feel like shit even though its almost been a month.

Anyways, please leave a review and check me out at Tumblr if you want to talk about the fic, AtLA and LoK, or whatever because it can take months for me to see a PM.


	9. Chapter 9

A statement from the Crown Princess Izumi.

Her Royal Highness, the Crown Princess Izumi, and her husband, Bumi, Commander of the United Forces with great and heartfelt joy announce the engagement of their son, Prince Iroh, to Lady Misao Nakamura.

His royal highness proposed to the Lady Misao this past weekend at the official residence of her father, the Duke of Shuhon, in Caldera City. Prince Iroh informed his parents and the Fire Lord shortly after.

Prince Iroh also asked and received the blessing of Lady Misao's parents, the Princess Yue II of the Northern Water Tribe and his grace, Ichiro Nakamura, the Duke of Shuhon Island and Magistrate of Fire Fountain City.

Details of the Prince's wedding to Lady Misao will be provided in due course.

* * *

One hundred twenty-eight words. Could've easily been reduced to thirty-three, but apparently people want detail and this is as vague as the press secretary can keep it -in accordance with the whole schematics on how to keep the words 'the Fire Lord's cabinet threatened to disinherit Prince Iroh if they don't get married' out of the public's knowledge.

There had been no official photoshoot yet-it was scheduled in the middle of the week on Iroh's morning off- so you can guess which picture they used.

There was also fact that I must get used to the lack of freedom that comes with being Iroh's future wife since I have been forbidden to have a day job, endorsing the liberal party and drawing too much attention to myself. In other words, I am incredibly stressed and I'm dying to smoke a cigarette in the balcony before my fiancé shows up for a Nakamura family dinner.

I forgot to mention that didn't I? Yes, today will be his first official dinner with my immediate family as my fiancé. _yippee._

My mother has forbidden me from scandalizing Eun by revealing that Iroh is also bi. 'He should tell her himself if she dares to call different sexualities a form of illness,' mother said.

"Mama told you'd be here." My brother's voice makes me jump and almost toss the lighter, daddy's fancy silver lighter which he lost a week ago out the balcony. I am not supposed to be smoking, in fact I gave up smoking like four or five months ago which makes it worse.

Naoko leaned on the balcony rail and held out his hand, he, like mama, could scare you into behaving without even looking. Naoko also had mother's sense of duty and father's sharp bronze eyes burning with a passion for politics and social reforms. I should mention he is only twenty-eight and the only bender amongst us three.

Daddy had been so happy to have his firstborn be a son, a fire bender and a politician, while mama tried to hide her disappointment when Hisa and I chose anthropology and nursing instead of political science and international relations. At least she gets two queens as a prize for raising two daughters who can hold their own in a world dominated by benders and men.

As Marquis of Fire Fountain, he had a seat in parliament since he finished law school at twenty-four and there was already talk of making him secretary of foreign affairs once he gained tenure as ambassador.

Unlike like grandmama, I should mention, Naoko and father were effective in giving more protections to the underprivileged, the queer and nonbenders. Shuhon was not only the richest island (natural gas, fine arts and real estate being our thing), but also the one with the lowest crime rate, mortality rates and all the good things that came with a universal income and healthcare.

At this point, I wonder if he'll end up being Iroh's Prime Minister. Now that would be a dream team for us liberals.

I groaned before handing over the pretty white gold cigarette case hidden in the flowerpot and the elegant cigarette holder in my hand.

"If I can't smoke, you can't either," Naoko reminded me as he snapped my elegant cigarette holder in two before tossing it off the balcony. Grandfather and Aunt Suzuki -Akira's divorced mother- were the lead doctors researching the correlation between smoking and lung cancer and as such all members of our family had to give up smoking, even if it was just one once in a while when you were very stressed.

"I know, and unless you have something to replace it with, I'd rather just go back to my room and wait for Iroh to show up."

Naoko took out a small bag of peppermint candies from his suit pocket and offered them as a replacement. He had been an even more avid smoker, what with him being the heir, the representative of Shuhon Island in Parliament and the newest Ambassador to the URN.

I popped at least two in my mouth and I realize too late that now my older brother will lecture me as to why I can't complain about my forced marriage and how it is vital for me to do my duty. Fuck!

He had to choose between financial ruin and being disowned for his debts or his chance at marrying someone he loved. While Eun could be a bit of a ninny -most girls raised with EK values were, to be honest- she was pragmatic. She had chosen the man that saw her as an equal and more specifically, the one who had been honest from the beginning. I'd rather hear her version of the story than his.

"You probably expected me to lecture you on how you have to marry Iroh and be a good wife and all that other ostrich horse shit father told you when Fire Lord Zuko's letter came." He began and waited for me to nod in reply. Naoko had been captain of the debate team and one of the best orators in all the Fire Nation, hence his success in Parliament.

"Go on." I manage to say in the most undignified way.

"I won't and since you already accepted your fate, I won't say anything you haven't already heard."

I relax my shoulders in relief, I would've flung myself from this balcony and into the courtyard gardens below if he had.

"I will, however, tell you that you will now have the power to swing the balance in our party's favor. How, you ask, given that Cabinet has told you to keep your trap shut and do as you are told? Well, I will tell you, sweet sister."

I raise an eyebrow. This I manage with all the elegance I supposedly was born with.

"Hisa managed to push the bill on free compulsory education by casually having tea with the leaders of the movements. Even Shu, who is by far the most capable leader in the Earth Kingdom, couldn't do that without pissing off every party in his legislative council. But our favorite sibling -and most famous middle child in all Fire Nation History- went to a tea house they frequented, made it look like she just happened to bump into them and viola, the Children's education bill passed unanimously.

Now here on our own turf, everyone knows not to fuck with us. I mean we didn't cement our position as the most astute clan by following other people's rules. Seriously, our ancestors retook Shuhon Island by seizing the lands owned by the other major clans through loopholes in the contracts.

We, well, you can figure out how to push social reforms without making it look like you have an agenda just like you found a way to expose the gaps in city funding by moving into the Dragon Flats as a nurse last year." Naoko's face shines from his passionate speech on why I must make the most out of my newly given influence.

He is not wrong, our clan is known for playing by our own rules and no member of our family could say with a straight face that they don't like the power we have. Sure, some of us are assholes, but if you could demand better funding for infrastructure, hospitals and schools with just your last name, wouldn't any of you throw your name and title around as if it were confetti? I would be lying if I said I hadn't deliberately moved to the crumbling nurses' home to expose the corruption in the local officials who let Dragon Flats fall apart.

Even if I am doomed to a loveless marriage -which seems rather unlikely now that I think about it- I can still keep making the world, my nation in particular, a better place. Hadn't thought about that if I'm being honest.

Naoko mistakes my silence as an encouragement to keep talking, but lucky for me, one of the footmen interrupts to notify us of Iroh's presence downstairs.

Agni, with Naoko's speech still burning through my mind, in that invigorating hot shower sort of way, I feel like I can take on anything. Especially this ridiculous dinner party.

* * *

What's up ya'll! Wow, it's already gonna be september even if it feels like it was march a week ago.

Turns out that Chung Ling is not Fire Fountain City's Island's name. Very minor spoilers for Shadow of Kyoshi, the Island's name is Shuhon.


	10. Chapter 10

Like most wealthy people we had those rather strange dining tables that somehow predated Avatar Wan, but had fallen out of fashion until the hundred years' war when I guess people wanted to appear superior by sitting in chairs when they ate.

We could host up to thirty people for dinner and have room to spare. Father sat at the head of the Table and my mother at the other end. No one cared about this break of dining etiquette, not even Iroh who has been forced to uphold such manners since he was old enough to dine with the adults. This was 'just a family dinner'-a seven course dinner, really - so we all sat were we wanted. Which ended with Iroh on father's left and I sandwiched between him and Hisa. Naoko sits on father's right -as the heir it was technically his spot- with Eun across from me and Shu at the end at mother's right.

Meaning I am at the best vantage point to make sure that 1) everything goes better than my brother and I have already bet on, and 2) Iroh doesn't run for the hills when he realizes just how dysfunctional my family is.

"So Iroh, are you aware that my darling Mimi is a master Chi Blocker?" my father said casually as if he weren't trying to gauge my betrothed's opinion on the criminalization of that particular martial art.

"Master is an exaggeration, dad. The Kyoshi warriors only gave her the red belt out of pity and your generous donation." Naoko says in hopes to make me look less threatening and change the topic, but really it just irritates me even though I never liked fighting and only learned enough to give me a fighting chance at not dying if someone where to get past my bodyguards.

"We can't all be the best, darling brother." I reply with a bit too much resentment. Hisa discreetly kicks me from underneath the table, mama glares at me and Naoko acts like the sashimi we have been given for the third course is the most intriguing piece of salmon ever served. At least the appetizer and the soup course had gone well.

At this point the table settles in an uneasy silence, we knew we could all face some legal trouble for my Chi Blocking-not that it stopped my parents from engaging a Kyoshi Warrior to teach us martial arts and most forms of the Dim Mak technique.

Eun was also blissfully unaware that my martial arts training was in one of the 'forbidden' moves. Wait until she realizes that most water bending medics and soldiers know how to blood bend. How else could the former NWT soldier turned infamous crime lord Yakone hone his ability?

"Yes, sir, I've known about it for quite some time and you should do well to remember that my Aunt Ty Lee is the current Grandmaster of Chi Blocking. I heard from my mother the other day, that Naoko is spearheading the effort to decriminalize it in the Fire Nation. I hope your party can be successful in passing bill, Naoko." Iroh replies diplomatically and with only a hint of genuine praise for my brother.

I should've mentioned that Naoko is considered a left-wing radical by those who think us non-benders shouldn't even be taught less dangerous forms of the Dim Mak technique or that maybe water bending surgeons should get a life sentence for daring to use blood bending to save a fucking life. Hopefully my oh so perfect elder brother can pass the forbidden arts bill.

"Thank you, your highness. Its is good to know that my sister is marrying someone who shares our views on the matter," Naoko thanks him and we all breathe out in relief. We toast with the plum wine to my engagement and hope for the passing of Naoko's bill.

We continue with dinner as if nothing had happened, the third course has barely started, and I thank Agni for convincing mama not to go through the ten to twelve courses she wanted. If it had been up to me, it would've been just three or four courses, not this exquisite monstrosity with four more courses to go.

"Will we be flipping tables or smashing glasses by dessert?" I mutter under my breath so only Hisa can hear me as Iroh is now engrossed in a conversation with my brother about the growing popularity of the equalist movement.

* * *

I should not have tempted fate by saying that last part.

The last three courses have gone relatively well, conversation revolved around the same three neutral topics: the wedding, Hisa and Naoko's children, and the chef outdoing themselves with this fantastic dinner.

The dessert plate had barely been set down on the table when the telephone in the hallway rings. The Butler answers the phone and hangs up only for it to ring again.

Once again conversation at the table stops abruptly, such insistent calling was a bad omen.

He comes back into the dining room, apologizing for interrupting and whispers to my father as to who is demanding his attention at such an important time in my life.

I don't have to guess who is calling as I can see mother's wine glass quickly freezing over before setting it down for the footmen to take. I thank Agni, Yue and La that the dessert course isn't typically served with an alcoholic beverage. There is nothing worse than a bender who is both drunk and angry.

"She said it was a matter of great urgency, your grace." Mr. Ito whispers furiously, he hated this breech of propriety and proper dining etiquette. He also hated father's dishonorable conduct towards his wife and much like the rest of the servants, he knew about Kazaori.

Too bad his voice wasn't low enough for mother not to hear it.

"I apologize, your highness, sweetheart." My father apologizes to Iroh and I , after all this was a special celebratory dinner and he was also hosting both his liege lord and foreign royalty. "I will take care of this and we can resume with dessert."

With that he leaves the dining room. My mother's stone cold rage threatening to burst out of the seams of her serene mask as Shu and Hisa try to jumpstart a lovely chat about the ice cream we have been served. No matter how pretty the plate is, it can't suppress the temper of a water bender.

One could easily forget how volatile the ocean could be just as many forgot the storm my mother could be.

"I told you not to call." My father in his irritation has forgotten to modulate his voice, so as to hide the fact that it is his mistress calling. He remembers once he has said the words and we can't hear the rest of his tirade. He hangs up and returns to the table where we finally begin with eating our ice cream and pretend it didn't happen.

The atmosphere begins to calm, and we all breathe out in relief. It is my turn to speak of something with zero chance of starting an argument.

"You know, mama, we should have ice cream and shaved ice at the charity picnic next week. The weather will be perfect for it."

"That is a wonderful idea, I know for sure that Kuzon's Ice Cream Parlor, you know that one across the Jasmine Dragon down on Main Street, caters." Hisa adds as if she didn't find random excuses to get ice cream from there when she was pregnant last year.

"Oh, yes, Mimi. Perhaps you and Eun could take over hosting it, it will be great for you to get some more practice in hosting gatherings. A little bird told me you disappeared in the middle of a picnic to go frolic by the beach." My mother pretends to be fine -even throws in a teasing smile- and that I wasn't the little bird who told her that I talked Iroh into going to the beach with me.

"In her defense, she was saving me from several young ladies in attendance who didn't take no for an answer." Iroh quips. He doesn't mention that we left because we found it dreadfully boring.

"It was still very irresponsible of you, Mimi." My mother reiterates.

"Which is why mama assigning my incredible wife as her babysitter." Naoko adds, "My darling Eun has the patience of a saint."

"Don't listen to him, your highness, Mimi is a very responsible person and I can guarantee that our picnic will be a great success." Eun chides her husband and reminds everyone that despite my liveliness, I am a capable and responsible adult.

"Thank you, Eun.," I thank Eun and childishly tease my brother who almost two hours ago told me how great it is I am getting married to Iroh. "It is almost as if you don't want me to get married, Naoko."

Maybe this dinner will end better than I thought.

Naoko barely opens his mouth when the damned telephone rings again. Mr. Ito moves to answer it, but my father raises a hand and gestures for him to let it go unanswered. It must be his mistress again.

She calls two more times and at this point we, that is everyone at the table who isn't my mother and father, wonder why mama can't tell society to go fuck itself and finally leave him before she is reduced to a convicted murderer.

That last one becomes less and less of a hypothetical with every second that passes.

* * *

Dim Mak is the actual name of the Touch of Death/ Quivering Palm kung fu technique. Chi-blocking is sort of based on it and here it will be the less deadly version of it. Misao's family is considered to be very liberal to the point that they don't believe blood bending and chi blocking should be illegal. I always found it stupid that lightning bending and metal bending had such usefulness when blood bending, combustion bending, and chi blocking are just considered evil.

Next chapter will be the last part of the dinner and the aftermath of it. Please leave a review or check out my Tumblr if y'all want to talk about the fic, the fandom or whatever.


	11. Chapter 11

Mimi had warned him about her family. He had thought her to be exaggerating considering he has had to deal with:

1)his former child soldier/sociopath great aunt (a great way to get rid of unwanted dinner guests like Prime Minister Wei and his daughter),

2)his Uncle Tenzin's messy break up with his Aunt Lin(they all had been waiting for it since Iroh was born, but yikes),

3)said uncle's marriage to a girl just a year or two older than Iroh( yes they are in a happy healthy relationship,but its still weird for him)

4)and his father,Bumi, being constantly overlooked and belittled for not being a bender (by both strangers and relatives alike).

Sure Aunt Lin had almost leveled Air Temple Island when Uncle Tenzin tried to let her down easy, but he was honestly more afraid of his future mother-in-law than he had been of Lin Beifong that day. After all Lin Beifong hadn't been cheated on by her husband of thirty years and had his mistress interrupt the dinner party thrown for her youngest daughter and her fiancé.

He felt bad for Lady Eun, he could tell that even after five years she still hadn't acclimatized herself with a family that blew his clean out of the water in being dysfunctional. The Cabbage Corp CEO's family was the only family he had seen that was as wholesome as they appeared. If you could count barely hidden homophobia- typical amongst earth kingdom nationals- and Lau Lan-Gan's disregard for his three daughters' rights as wholesome.

Shu, that is Crown Prince Shu of Omashu and husband to Hisa, slipped off his house slippers discreetly. No doubt the master earth bender was using his seismic sense -another ability no longer reserved to the upper classes nor one single family- to keep an eye on his wife's parents.

"You must excuse our parents, your highness. Mother absolutely hates it when father's affairs interrupt dinner." His soon to be brother-in-law, Naoko, apologizes and not so subtly hints as to why the Duke and his wife are fighting during the dessert course.

"I understand, but please call me Iroh." Iroh once again asks for his future family to drop the honorifics and act like he isn't royalty. He wonders just how long it took for Shu to stop being His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Omashu to them.

"As you wish, Iroh. I am sorry your first dinner with our family has gone to shit." Naoko apologizes once again.

"Naoko." Eun reprimands, "What will his highness, sorry, Iroh, think?"

"He will think that we are normal people with far too many issues and can swear without sounding too vulgar, dear." Naoko replies to his wife.

Beside him an annoyed Misao simmered in quiet rage. She hasn't done anything except play with the remaining of her ice cream, her favorite flavor made up in the shape of a camellia flower. Even if he had known her for four months- technically since they were children, but even then, they were just loose acquaintances- Iroh knew this angry silence isn't a good thing.

Misao hides her face in her hands and the telephone rings again. She cries out in anger, "Will some unplug the fucking telephone?!"

That was more like her. Misao had her mother's temper and her father's wit.

One of the footmen scurries and hastily unplugs it from the telephone jack on the wall. They could have done that when it rang the first three times, not when the masters of the house where perilously close to coming to blows.

"I won't blame you if you decide to end things." Mimi smiles wryly. Like he could end things over something so insignificant as having a dysfunctional family.

"I'm not going anywhere." Iroh takes her hand that rests in the space between his plate and hers. For just a couple of seconds the angry yelling and Naoko's debate with Eun over when it is okay to swear in front of you guests fades and its just the two of them.

"Aww, that's so sweet. We will hold you to it when the official dinner with the whole family is here." Hisa teases. She turns to looks across the table to her husband. "Don't these two remind you of us at that disastrous dinner with your late grandmother."

"Yes, they do, darling. Didn't she throw plum wine at you and called you an opportunistic whore?" Shu mentions reminding everyone at the table that no one could be worse than the late Earth King's two daughters in terms of awfulness. The current Earth Queen was considered much less violent than her late elder sister.

"Yes, and we weren't even engaged then." Hisa giggles at the memory.

"Are we cursed or something, because your grandpa had a stroke when I came over for my first family dinner," Eun asks Naoko, because it was too coincidental for all three siblings to have such rotten luck when inviting their fiancé to have dinner with them and their family.

No one gets to answer because at that moment a vase smashes and Shu reassures," Oh, your mother didn't throw it at him, not that my father-on-law doesn't deserve it, it just fell. One of the maids must've put it wrong."

They all breathe out in relief and it isn't long before the masters of the house come back inside the dining room.

"My wife and I are deeply sorry for ruining this dinner, your highness. We will be going to the sitting room near the library as the music room isn't available." Ichiro, that is Mimi's dad, apologizes and pretends that the climate inside the dining room didn't drop by like five degrees.

"It's no bother, sir." It is a bother, both parties contributed on ruining dinner and make things awkward for them.

"Sweetheart, I am sorry for ruining your special night," Ichiro apologizes to Mimi who doesn't accept his apology.

* * *

"Well that was awful." Mimi says as we walk up to the bench just right outside the sliding doors of the sitting room by the library. It was pleasantly warm and old houses like this one often opened to the courtyard garden in which they walked on without a chaperone.

"I've seen worse, if it makes you feel better." Iroh reaches out to hold her hand as they sit. She doesn't flinch and move it away like she usually did. Her hands were always cool, but not as cold as a water bender's hands.

"I'm glad we didn't manage to scare you off tonight." She tilts her head to look at him as they talk. The close proximity of her face to his reminded him of that one kiss they have had. They hadn't kissed since then, not unless he counted kissing her hand when he proposed or the chaste kiss near the edge of her lips just two hours ago.

"I meant what I said, I am not going anywhere." Iroh wished he could say something much more romantic, but romance has never been his forte. He inherited his father's ingenuity, but to his father's disappointment Iroh couldn't sweep someone off their feet without fucking it up.

That grand romantic gesture wouldn't have been as perfect as it was without the input of his dad, Jin (the playwright secretly in a relationship with Akira, who wears the word gay as proudly as he wears a rainbow handkerchief on his lapel), Akira, and even Kuei Young.

"My father's mistress, the person who kept on calling, is my ex-girlfriend. My father has no idea I am queer." She admits, as if he didn't know she was bisexual. They've had this conversation when lounging around in the observatory at Akira's house.

"The Jen family somehow got the White Lotus to ban me from visiting the South when I asked them for their blessing to court LuXian." Iroh replied, mentally kicking himself to saying it out loud. "I didn't see gran-gran until the White Lotus fired him."

Iroh has mentioned it partially that night at Akira's observatory drinking to the closure of the Gay Dragon. His new friends were mourning the closing of a bar that allowed them to be out of the closet for just a few hours. The word Gay had become slang for same-sex attraction and a blanket term for anyone who wasn't straight thanks to the bar's name.

It had been the first time in his life, someone didn't dismiss his sexuality with a 'you just haven't met the right person yet' nor a 'that doesn't make you queer'. Iroh doesn't feel sexual attraction the way the rest of his friends did, he only feels sexually attracted to those he has developed strong bonds.

Mimi had admitted having never felt romantic love but had felt romantic attraction very rarely and was afraid that whoever she did feel romantically attracted to didn't feel the same. This she had said from the other end of the couch they were sharing.

He remembers her blushing when they toasted to all the different types of love. It was then when his desire for her began growing slowly, but surely like the sand falling to the bottom of an hourglass.

"Are we talking about the same LuXian? Korra's former earth bending master -so great his Kyoshi Warrior guards think sunlight shines out of his ass- Jen LuXian?" Mimi asked ignoring the part where he was banned from the Southern Water Tribe.

"No, his lesbian body double, Kumi." Iroh answers sardonically and then adds." Yes, that LuXian."

Mimi doesn't ask him if he still loved him like his ex-girlfriend and former lovers did. She looks away blushing making him realize he was 'staring adoringly at her' again. Jin had complained about Iroh's inability to even downplay his feelings for the girl somewhat oblivious to them.

"Grandmama wanted to betroth me to him when I was presented. She wasn't satisfied with Hisa marrying Shu. The Jen family, being close enough to the EK line of succession, seemed like a great catch and Old Lady Meng did say I would marry royalty." Mimi leans closer to him and he puts his arm around her. Iroh has no idea when this became a reflex.

"Oh, really. The Councilwoman is an ambitious woman." He told her in what many consider his trademarked honesty. He half expected her to pull away, Misao didn't like anyone insulting her family.

"There is nothing wrong with being ambitious, so long as you achieve your goals fairly and preferably without spilling blood or violating human rights. Grandmama likes power and making sure that no one can threaten the Nakamuras or Shuhon, besides my parents fought her on that one."

"Oh," he doesn't hide his surprise at hearing her father didn't go with the scheme. Ichiro Nakamura had been pushing for the ultimatum that resulted in this hurried engagement.

" Daddy told her there was no way the Jens would accept a Nakamura of Shuhon Island and mama said she would kill him if ever made me marry a man who isn't at least sexually attracted to women." She said flippantly, as if the heir of the wealthiest family in the Earth Kingdom being queer was not a big deal. LuXian's family had been adamant in keeping that particular secret hidden to the point of ruining any potential happiness they could've had.

His first love had been a man, and Iroh was still queer even if the love of his life was the woman cuddling with him on the stone bench.

Perhaps when Korra becomes a full realized Avatar or sometime in his mother's tenure they could live in a world that no longer cares about whether you are the gender you are born with or the gender of the person you love.

"I'm glad your parents refused to follow with your grandmother's schemes." He says, wondering if that was an okay thing to say.

"So am I, but enough of family politics. We won't have much time left before we must return inside, and I'd rather make the most of it."

"I know what we could do." Iroh leans his head closer to hers and she giggles like she did at the Party.

* * *

Jen LuXian is princessofdarkness12's OC from her fic, The Tiger of the North. Thank you, princessofdarkness12 for letting me do this little cameo.

My inspiration for these two chapters was the Great Gatsby when Tom's mistress calls during dinner with Daisy, her friend Jordan and Nick. Except with more drama.

I also did a mood board for it, but for some reason it doesn't show up . It's on my Tumblr if you guys wanna check it out.


	12. Chapter 12

"So how was your family dinner?" Jissika asked as we floated in a bath made to mimic a hot spring complete with very convincing rocks and greenery.

This was fourth thing on our itinerary, after this we would get a hot spring for ourselves and then finish it off with the new full-service beauty parlor.

This luxurious spa also part of the Capitol's most expensive _Onsen_. Kyoshi is said to have graced this establishment while my namesake met up with conspirators to become Fire Lord Zuko's regent after Ozai and Azula's defeat.

This traditional hot spring also boasted of the greatest mud baths in the world.

In this private tub that typically fits ten people, Fire Lady Misao had become Fire Lady Regent, seduced a man of the southern water tribe, and somehow find the whereabouts of Prince Lu Ten who had not died, but had been taken prisoner by the Earth Kingdom while I can afford to rent it so I complain about the dinner party last night.

"Horrible, but I did get to make out with Iroh for almost fifteen minutes before Shu threw pebbles at us." I rub mud on my collarbone secretly hoping the mud could swallow me whole and not let me out until my wedding night. With all the stressing regarding wedding plans I can't fucking wait for the party to be over, so I can finally do something without causing a scandal.

"I bet Cuifen never got to do that." Ting-Ting painted herself a mustache with her index finger making me giggle.

"He wasn't sexually attracted to her, Ting-Ting. Didn't you hear him when we poured one out for the Gay Dragon." Asiaq reminded everyone while she added curled edges to Ting-Ting's mud-stache before using her water bending to wick away some of her sweat.

"I wasn't there, I was-" Ting-Ting said annoyed at having missed this confession before getting interrupted by Jissika.

"You were too busy fooling around with Lee." Jissika quipped and used her bending to add a goatee from across the tub.

Let it be known that we are not the serene and graceful women people will believe we are in the next decade.

"Oh, please don't act like we didn't cover for you when you and Tarrlok snuck off to the bathroom at Iroh's welcoming gala." Ting-Ting finally satisfied with her fake facial hair sat back and closed her eyes.

"This isn't about you two, I haven't even told you why my dinner party sucked." I would've pouted, but I was too relaxed to do so.

"Do tell." Ting-Ting said in a deep voice making us laugh once more.

"Kazaori called my father seven or eight times before we even started dessert. I am surprised we made it five courses without making Iroh run for the hills." I began my tale of the third worst dinner party I've been to.

"Yikes how did Princess Yue take it? Your mother isn't as sweet and docile as her namesake." Jissika grimaced.

Jissika had been there when my mother had frozen her wine and shattered it during one of Uncle Unalaq's visits to the Fire Nation. Ting-Ting had witnessed my mother throwing her t-strapped high heel at my father when we discovered that Ting-Ting's fun auntie was fucking my dad and Asiaq's dad, Sir Adlartok, had been the family's psychiatrist since I was a child.

"For a moment we thought she'd killed him when the vase Great Grandma Qing -that is grandfather's mother- gave them for Naoko's birth fell in the library. Then she froze her calming tea while I was outside with Iroh." It comes out too nonchalantly, I forgot not everyone has a mother with such a temper.

I feel guilty at thinking how nothing in my life would really change if my dad were to die. He was only around on major holidays, my debut and the occasional time when sending me away to bury whatever shameful thing I did. Mother only needed the nanny to care for us when she was working and sure we don't like physical displays of affection, but that's more of us being germaphobes than being snobs.

Did you know that I threaten this _Onsen _with a bad review if they don't sanitize everything according to regulations, that Naoko hates hand shaking because you don't know what they've touched and if he has to shake hands he always washes his hands after or that Hisa got rid of a lady-in-waiting because she didn't sneeze into her handkerchief and then didn't wash her hands?

Yeah, for some reason a healthy fear of germs is not the first thing that pops up when the gossips see that we don't like to hold hands or hug our significant others.

Oh, shit, this is not even related to what I am saying. My bad.

"And you say Iroh didn't run for his life?" Asiaq asked using her bending to remove Ting-Ting's fake facial hair before our time in the mud baths was up.

"He said he isn't going anywhere," I blush involuntarily, and it doesn't escape their notice. "I hope he feels the same when the engagement ball turns out to be a worse disaster. At least, Akira will be here for it."

* * *

This day couldn't get any better. There was no one chasing me around with a camera, no one dared to ask about which designer was making my wedding clothes and best of all no stoic secretary telling dictating my ever move. I will be getting my own secretary as my engagement progresses as well as my own security detail, so naturally I must enjoy what little freedom I have left.

"My lady, his grace is expecting you in his study." Mr. Ito bowed and led me to father's study as if I didn't know the way to everyone of his offices in each government building and every single one of our properties we own.

If you are curious, his office in the official family residence, a.k.a. Nakamura House on Chrysanthemum Park, it's in between the main hall and the library. The summer palace in Fire Fountain City has its own wing on the second floor and Nakamura Castle has it on Fire Lord's Pavilion, across from the Chrysanthemum Throne of the Nakamura Fire Lords.

If you haven't noticed my family's crest is actually a golden chrysanthemum on a blood red standard and Iroh's family crest is a dragon, although it used to be a peony before Fire Lord Chaeryu's father changed it to avoid confusion with the Keosho clan.

"Your grace, Lady Misao is here." The Butler bowed to my father, to me and then left my father's home office.

"You wanted to speak to me, father." Ordinarily I wouldn't call him father, I would call him daddy as the only times I see him is to butter him up so I can have a raise in my allowance, do something scandalously modern like driving, or not get banished to the Southern Water Tribe nor some other spirits forsaken place like its sister tribe. If you haven't caught on, I fucking loathe cold weather.

"Sit, Mimi. As you know your impending nuptials to his highness are going to be taking front and center of every news outlet and since this might ruin the public's perception of you, your mother and I won't be making this public until you successfully give birth to a Prince and cement you position as Prince Iroh's consort," He said matter-of-a-fact and as more as some sort of business transaction instead the domestic felicity of his youngest child. The youngest child he claims to love so much.

"Your mother and I will be filing for a divorce. That is what he should've said instead of telling me that I am a piece of their chess game and until I have served my purpose he and my mother can finally be done making each other miserable.

"Do Naoko and Hisa know you and mama are divorcing?" I ask tentatively. They might use me to break the news before dinner -my parents very well know that I can't keep secrets- or they left me out of the loop due to some gemsbok bullshit.

"Yes, they were told a week ago, but your mother and I decided that we would wait until we could let you down easy on account of you still behaving more of like a child than an adult." He pours himself some fancy liquor that tastes like cinnamon and remembers to pour one for me.

"Oh, and is there someone already gunning for the post of Duchess of Shuhon?" I ask not bothering to hide the spitefulness I pretend I don't have. I take a sip and consider coming out to him, so I can ruin his relationship with Kazaori. While he may not be homophobic, he would be incredibly angry to know his mistress seduced his naïve daughter as well as perfect son.

He sighs and remembers that he has encouraged this sort of behavior when done with class and to anyone we don't like.

"Yes, although it will be a few years until I make our relationship public, so as not to taint any corporation, crown and medical thesis associated with our name." My father explains. He keeps it as vague as possible in order to pacify me and make sure his mistress is safe from me should I decide to do something as stupid as confronting her.

"Then I should tell you that I used to be in a relationship with Kazaori, former Ember Island Actress, two years ago and I ended things with her because she fucked Naoko when she realized our relationship was not going to last." There is a satisfaction at seeing him briefly loose composure over knowing his mistress has made her way through his golden child and the daughter he sees himself in. He was lucky that Hisa had no interest in women and that Shu was too besotted with my sister to every betray her in such a way.

"You are making this up, there is no way you would know who she is, and you can't be attracted to women when you are marrying a man." He says thinking this another one of my little acts where I make up some outrageous lie and he dismantles it.

"No, I am not. Homosexuality is when you are attracted to people of your same sex, bisexuality is when you are attracted to people of both sexes. Kazaori is bisexual, as am I and funny enough, so is Iroh." I don't think I should've given my dad ammunition, but I can't take back the words I have just said.

"Does your mother know you are?" He doesn't dare to say the words bisexual, gay, degenerate, or whatever word popped into his head.

"Yes, although she doesn't want me to publicly out myself and Iroh can't either due to the whole its illegal in three out of six countries thing." I continue nursing my drink, I'll have to make sure to tell Iroh its one of my favorites.

"How did you meet her, given your record, you were in at least four different provinces and three countries that year." He doesn't ask how long you have known you were bisexual. As for that, it was when I was sixteen and struggled between having a crush on Lin Beifong -I have a thing for uniforms and confidence- and Master Tenzin -I also have a thing for serious gentlemen who get flustered easily- simultaneously. Sir Adlartok then reassured me that Avatar Kyoshi loved both men and women and there was nothing wrong if I did too.

"I met Kazaori when Akira and I went to Ember Island for the summer and she was at this wonderful parade to celebrate the anniversary of the repealing of the Homosexual Acts. She sought me out at the Hospital when we came back to Fire Fountain City. You should ask her how she met Naoko the next time you see her; he wouldn't tell me when they started fucking each other. I should warn you; she is quite determined to be one of us that one."

My father unlike my mother had a quiet sort of anger. He simmered like a water boiling on the stove and yet he didn't do anything more than just scowl at me. He would never raise a hand against anyone, and he didn't like using his fists or fire if he could resolve it with words and a glare.

"How do you know Kazaori is my mistress?" He asked, the mahogany desk turning darker under his palms. I will begin perspiring if this meeting gets any longer. Mama at least keeps my makeup from running when she's pissed.

"Oh, servant gossip, and Akira's boyfriend, Jin, told me she had left the Royal Theater for the Shuhon Island Society of Performing Arts. Also, the ring you gave her is almost the same to the one on the ruby chrysanthemum parure that belonged to great-aunt Misao." I say facetiously making him more incensed.

"Leave, we will speak about this when you aren't feeling practically vindictive." He pressed the button on his desk that summons the footman to open the door, but I leave before they have a chance to open it.

"I do hope it's not that one, I was looking forward to wearing it on my engagement gala next week."

* * *

The part I am going to miss the most about my nursing and midwifery career will be interacting with babies daily.

Lucky for me, Hisa had two children, Prince Xian Feng and Princess Xian Li, or as we refer to them A'Feng and A'Li to avoid using the shared first character in their names as well as keeping with mainland linguistic customs they are being raised with. Even though the Mainland language has become the Common Tongue, every country and region kept with their own languages and customs while still using the common tongue for business and whatnot.

And since I can't wait for pre-dinner cocktails and Hisa must return to Omashu in less than forty-eight hours, I figure this is my best chance to ask her if she knew about the divorce. I would ask mama, but she isn't home yet.

The universe thinks this is a clever idea as Eun is here with her toddler as well.

Four-year-old A'Feng had decided his cousin Botan, Naoko and Eun's three-year-old, was too young to play with and practiced his bending with the Kyoshi Warrior who served as his personal guard.

Hisa has just fed, burped, and hopefully changed A'Li's diaper, so she can't run.

"Yes, they'll expect you to have your first child within the first year of your marriage." Hisa answers before I even ask her anything. She assumed this was about my wifely duties, which I already knew about.

"I knew that." I hand over A'Li back to her nurse. Sure, I know I will enjoy sex with my husband, but pregnancy and childbirth sound horrible and life threatening. Then there's the issue that my child could be a non bender like me and Commander Bumi, fire bender like Iroh, water bender like mama and Lady Katara or an air bender like late Avatar Aang. I don't want to be stressing about this just yet, so fuck you Hisa for reminding me about that.

A'Li, Hisa's ten-month-old baby daughter, was the cutest baby I had the pleasure to meet and up until a month ago I delivered babies for a living. If only I could magically acquire a baby that fulfills everyone's expectations without putting one foot in the grave.

She was also my only living niece and what with it being such a hassle for Hisa and Shu to take their kids out of their country, I valued the couple days I saw her since her birth. Yeah, because royal babies are very vulnerable of not making it past infancy due to either natural causes or infanticide by people angry at the government.

"Oh, yes, and she is not kidding. Your grandmother ordered a chambermaid to poke holes in all your brother's condoms before we left for our honeymoon." Eun said covering her three-year-old son's ears before kissing his forehead when he fussed over not being included.

That explained why Baby Osen, who sadly lived for only three months due to complications of being born months before her due date, had been born within the first seven months of Eun and Naoko's marriage. There was also the other baby girl she had miscarried when Botan was one year old and my brother cheated on her with my then girlfriend.

I won't ask how she found out which chambermaid did it. Her daughter's death made it difficult for them to even speak about her.

"Yes, I am aware of very aware of that. I think every memoir written by a woman mentions that." If I sound annoyed by this, it is because I am. "But that is not what I want to talk about."

"What's on your mind?" Eun asks before calling Botan's nanny. Eun despite her tendency to believe all the hubris Countess Hao says is a genuinely good person, which is why the bitchy Countess took her under her wing when all other society ladies ridiculed her for her background.

"This isn't related to anything regarding the fact that I will be reduced to a royal baby maker in a year, this is about mom and dad. Did you two already know they were going to divorce?" I muster all the seriousness I can while Botan offers me a cookie before his nanny scoops him up.

Their faces say it all. They have known and agreed to keep me in the dark.

"Mimi, sweetheart, I can explain." My mother, the most terrifying woman to ever grace high society since the death of Fire Lady Mai, said as she stood in the threshold of the garden.

* * *

An Onsen, is a traditional Japanese hot spring bath literally 'hot water spring.' Some Onsens have mud baths made with the ore mud in them.

As you have noticed I tried to explain why there are Mandarin Chinese in the series while the Water Tribes are Innuit, the Fire Nation Japanese and Ba Sing Se Korean. Long story short, Mandarin Chinese is the Common Tongue, and almost everyone is bilingual.

I think I should make a family tree for the Nakamura family, but I haven't decided how many sisters Ichiro has.

Also Story Idea time: The Scandalous Lady M. where Ozai's twenty-something second wife, Marchioness of Fire Fountain, Heiress of Shuhon Island, and Mimi's namesake overthrows Ozai and becomes Zuko's regent because her coup failed because her husband was defeated.

I know I already have many WIPs, but I am too impatient to wait until one fic is finished what with 2020 being full of plot twists.

(Also, I made some mistakes on Jen LuXian, but I'll get around to it once I finish some last-minute edits in the fic.)


	13. Chapter 13

"My Lady, if you want, I can help you undress and take your measurements in a different dressing room?" the lovely non-bending young woman with very radical ideals I find myself agreeing to says when we pass by the most famous gossip columnist in the dressing room next to mine.

"That would be wonderful, Azumi. I know the whole keeping my wedding clothes secret is such a stupid thing, but I am already on bad terms with the press secretary and I did promise my fiancé that I wouldn't antagonize them further." I walk into the dressing room, which I just realized is the storage room with the secret exit we use when either a journalist, radio personality, or any of my dad's exes is here. "Oh, is Madame Chihiro turning the storage into a dressing room?"

"No, but you have to admit its perfect for kidnappings." Azumi locks the door and a man behind me chloroforms me.

As I look back at this moment, I realized I am a fucking idiot.

* * *

"Mimi's been in there a long time, do you think she wore that corselet from hell again?" Asiaq looked at the clock on the mantle again.

"No, she told me herself she was wearing the one with the zipper." Eun answered, her delicate eyebrows crinkling in worry. Eun had a bad feeling about today, an unsettling feeling in her stomach like the one she got that evening when she caught her husband with that awful actress.

"I can send someone to go check on them if you wish, your ladyship?" Madame Chihiro, who has been entertaining them and anxious to promote her upcoming fall collection to every woman in the room, asks Eun.

"If it isn't an inconvenience, Chihiro. I know Mimi can take care of herself and Miss Azumi is such a trustworthy employee, but I can't help feeling something is wrong." Eun says fully giving into that sixth sense telling her something is wrong. By this time Mimi's friends had gotten the hint and even if Asiaq didn't like her they knew not to discount Eun's sixth sense.

"I am sure Mimi just got carried away and neither have noticed the time." Ting-Ting reluctantly puts down the wedding catalogue filled with gorgeous designs inspired by traditional earth kingdom wedding clothes.

"No this isn't something Mimi does, not if she has plans after her appointment. She may be chatty, but our girl is punctual especially if it comes to getting time alone with Iroh without a chaperone." Jissika counters and removes the lid off the teapot in case she has need for an impromptu water whip or an icicle.

The other assistant Madame Chihiro had sent in her stead runs into the parlor screaming. "Azumi and Princess Mimi are gone!"

The nosy gossip columnist in the other dressing room squeals in delight at having found her story and Lady Chihiro faints.

* * *

"Your Grace! I couldn't stop her." Ichiro Nakamura's private secretary, who often helped him hide his infidelities from the media, managed to say keeling over from having run after Ichiro's wife. Yue had come looking angrier than ever, she had been incensed for telling Mimi about their divorce without her consent. She coddled Mimi too much, no wonder their daughter was wild and unrestrained.

"Get rid of your whore and your pet, we need to talk." Yue commanded and he listened. If Yue has openly sought him out, then it was of the utmost importance.

"Why do I have to leave? Its already bad enough you took back the ring, now you are leaving me out of something like this?" Kazaori complained and Yue looked her dead in the eyes.

"The ring was already willed to my daughter; he had no business giving it to someone so unworthy of a Fire Lady's jewels. Leave." It's a blatant lie, but his father had wanted him to give the parure to Mimi seeing it would go with the tiara his sister Ikumi had designed for her.

"Kazaori, darling, leave. This impromptu meeting with my wife will be over before you know it." Ichiro doesn't even bother looking at his fiancée. It was bad enough Mimi had made him give her his late Aunt's chrysanthemum parure which he had planned to give Kazaori, now his wife had the gall to show up unannounced.

Yue looked the door and cool it enough to make sure they can't eavesdrop.

"Mimi was kidnapped." Those three words were enough to make his blood run cold. His idealistic, spiteful daughter had a way of attracting trouble, but never this kind of trouble.

* * *

"Grab your things, kid, your mother wants you home." Katsashi, his bodyguard and head of his security detail unceremoniously grabs Iroh's things and leads him to the garage where an armed motorcade was waiting for him.

"Why? Did something happen to grandfather or her?" He asked worried, his mother never called him home unless something horrible had happened. The last time he was forced to leave in the middle of training, Ursa had been going into anaphylactic shock because one of her school's cooks had been trying to kill her with food she was allergic too.

"You know the drill, your highness." The guard said making Iroh feel more uneasy. The ride is short and quiet, but the knowledge that Katsashi was poised to strike unlike his usual quiet vigilance from the front seat.

It clicks when he is ushered to his grandfather's personal office and he see's Mimi's family waiting inside with his.

"Where's Mimi? Did something happen to her?"

* * *

"This is just in. Lady Misao Nakamura, daughter of the Duke of Shuhon and fiancée to his highness, the Prince Iroh, was kidnapped this morning.

The Royal Family nor the Chief of Fire Nation Police Forces have given out official statements, but our source was there at the scene.

We will keep you updated and ask that if any of our listeners has any leads , pleascontact your local authorities."

"Should've known they'd get their hands on the story." Naoko pops another mint into his mouth. He could use a cigarette right now. He bets Mimi could go for one as well, wherever they took her.

Mimi had always been too naïve to think someone would be stupid enough to try anything on her.

And yet, someone had kidnapped her along with a frumpy seamstress that looked a little too much to Aunt Ikumi. He would have to investigate if she is by chance the child his aunt had out of wedlock before she married.

Hisa and her children were scheduled to leave at noon, but now were under heavy guard in a bunker at the Omashu Embassy, Eun and Botan were there as well, while his mother put away her repulsion for her husband and remained with them not wanting to miss a single update on Mimi's case.

"Have they made demands?" Iroh asks pacing like the anguished lover in a novel. Naoko remembers that his little sister is the damsel in distress.

"They left a campaign flyer for Mr. Chao, the man at the head of the Equalist movement here in the Fire Nation." The Chief answered. "They have made no demands as of yet."

Rui Chao was kicked out of the Liberal Party for his affiliation with the movement who wanted to kill every bender and non-bender who dared to sympathize with benders. The growing Equalist Movement had garnered enough attention that they demanded to be recognized as a legitimate political party.

Taking Mimi was a stupid idea if they wanted to be seen as the victims of oppression they prey on.

"One of our people monitoring Nakamura House has reported someone has dropped off this." A detective, young, idealistic and surprisingly not his cousin, Kin. Kin must be the detective assigned to monitor the House.

The box doesn't look any different from the millions of disposable hat boxes his wife and sisters have accumulated. The box was trademarked by Madame Chihiro which made him doubt the seamstress was a victim.

The box is opened to reveal a rather large chunk of Mimi's hair- at least it wasn't something less trivial like a finger or an ear- and a note.

But this did let them know her abductors were amateurs and Mimi would be home complaining by high tea tomorrow. He'd bet twenty thousand yuans and his new luxury air ship that the frumpy seamstress did it.

He didn't have time to read it as his mother snatched it out of the box and read it out loud.

"If you wish to see your daughter again, you and your son must step down from office and fully endorse Rui Chao as your son's successor. We also demand ten million yuan-"

"Like hell I would. I haven't worked my ass off making sure every man, woman and child have a roof over their heads and food in their bellies just so that bigoted son of a bitch can undo it all!"

Naoko winces. The Duke of Shuhon claimed he put his children above his career, but he wouldn't hesitate sacrificing darling Mimi for his country. Nakamuras would do anything for their family, but even great aunt Misao had poisoned her own womb-unborn twin sons included- for the sake of the Fire Nation.

"This is the life of our youngest child you are speaking; I would gladly let the world burn if it meant no one touched a hair on my children!" Naoko's mother seethes in rage that her indolent husband seems fine with letting Mimi be tortured and murdered for the sake of people's rights.

If they could remember they were in the presence of Mimi's in-laws and one of them is the Fire Lord, who could take away their titles and wealth if he wanted to, it would be great.

Mimi would die of embarrassment if she knew this was happening.

"I would gladly give my own life for my baby sister, and that includes my career, but lucky for us and most importantly Mimi, she has the Police Force and the royal army to rescue her." Naoko tries his best to calm down his mother and assure everyone he has a heart.

"I assume there is already a plan in place. Miss Azumi doesn't any have any records and her henchmen are unlikely to have more experience in kidnapping someone as high profile as my sister."

"What makes you think the assistant seamstress did it?" Commander Bumi asked, intrigued to how he came to that conclusion.

'Agni, Yue and La, I hope they don't think I did it.' thought Naoko to himself,

"Mimi and Eun had mentioned Miss Azumi being very forward with her political ideals and singing praises about the Equalist Movement. She kept trying to invite them to the secret rallies, not that my wife and sister would accept it." Naoko can see the Chief of Police had arrived at that conclusion but hadn't yet been allowed to say it. "…and I recognize her handwriting from all the personalized notes she wrote on Madame Chihiro's behalf."

"Yes, Lord Fire Fountain is correct. Madame Chihiro's assistant, Miss Azumi is a member of the movement. We presume that her ally is a chi-blocker recently deported from the Republic. We have been using a Shirshu to track Lady Misao's scent and have everything under control." The Chief answered to everyone's satisfaction.

Well, almost everyone, Iroh didn't seem like the type to sit back and let other people do the work. The Prince had decided to earn his military honors instead of showering himself in them without spending more than an hour in training like the Earth King's late grandson -Shu's late paternal uncle- had done.

"Perhaps Commander Bumi and my grandson can assist in Lady Misao's rescue?" The Fire Lord says making Naoko secretly glad Fire Lord Zuko didn't mention him.

Naoko loved his sister, but there was only so much a politician could do in a rescue mission. He will gladly wait in the sidelines and bring her a hat.


	14. Chapter 14

"You should've just killed me!" I cried when I saw the clumps of hair surrounding my chair. Normally I wouldn't give a shit about something as fixable as hair, but I have not been having a good week. I am also starving, and I wasn't even allowed to wash my hands when my kidnappers let me use the bathroom.

"It's just hair, it'll grow back." One of the men, not the one who had drugged me, dismissed. I can't see his face; he wears one of the equalist uniforms I might've seen at the rallies in Republic City that you can't prove I went to.

"Not by this weekend. I have my engagement ball in not even three days, and I look like a toddler who had an unfortunate encounter with chewing gum!" I continued.

"Shut it! Next time it will be one of your ears!" The one who chloroformed me, also in the uniform, tightens the restraints on the chair.

"There is no need for you to resort to violence, sir." I say petulantly and he presses a knife deep into the skin behind my ear to remind me the knife is very real. "Okay, okay, I will shut up!"

"Think the Duke will do it?" the nicer one, the one who thinks my dad will give up his career for me, asks the one who just threatened to cut off my ear.

"I doubt it, and neither will his son and that's what we are counting on."

Okay, I had thought these were just amateur kidnappers and I would be rescued at any minute, but now I know they mean to kill me.

"Wait, why? I am not a bender, I've treated equalists with dignity and respect. Why would you guys want to kill me?" I ask sounding less and less dignified with every word.

"Why do we have to kill the Princess? I bet the Fire Lord will pay anything for Prinny's girl." The reasonable man, who is way over his head and kind of wants out, argues.

"If its money you want, my parents will pay it! Agni, the ring Iroh gave me is worth a small island. Just don't kill me" Azumi had already relieved me of all jewels and hair pins when I was unconscious, even the plain hatpin was worth more than the delivery truck they transported me in.

"I said shut it!" Knife guy slaps me. That's going to leave a mark. Maybe I can reschedule the ball? Shame my ball gown will have to wait a little longer.

"Go easy on her, Amon said no marks." Azumi, looking very much like Aunt Ikumi did in the photographs her husband took when they first met, says indifferently playing cards several feet away.

This girl didn't even turn around when she followed me into the bathroom. If she weren't my cousin. I'd let her rot in prison forever.

"Fine, I'll just gag her, so we can have some peace and quiet." Knife guy says and the other man hands him a surprisingly clean piece of fabric.

"Did you make sure to leave the rest of hair and her clothing at the whorehouse?" Azumi asked the men.

One of the men bristles at the word whorehouse.

"Yes, my sister gave the clothing to Otome to wear. I left the hair underneath Otome's mattress. Otome won't notice it, she's in high demand on account of looking like our guest." The reasonable man's sister and niece worked at the brothel in Huazo Boulevard. I know this because I had treated Otome's sexually transmitted diseases two years ago when I worked at the clinic in Saewon.

Huazo Boulevard was the name given to the pleasure quarters of the Capital, which the Fire Lady Regent Misao had regulated and kept legal. You can tell the pleasure quarters and the city were named after the fall of the Saewon Clan during the Era of Avatar Kyoshi.

"Mr. Goro?" I asked muffled by the gag. Mr. Goro, who worked at the market, flirted with one of the maids and broke his arm in three different parts on my first week at the clinic, was one of my kidnappers. He was in his late thirties, lived with his mother and had a problem with the benders who mistreated his sister and niece. No wonder he fell for the Equalist Movement's false promises.

"Shit."

It's not everyday you see a Shirshu in action. It was strangely fascinating to see the beast make its way through Huazo Boulevard and stop at the most famous brothel in the Fire Nation.

"Where did you get my sister's clothes?" Naoko asked Otome, the young prostitute who could pass for Mimi's twin if you could look past her eyes being a darker blue, her skin looking shallow where Mimi's was luminous and Mimi having a slightly bigger head.

"My uncle dropped them off saying they were a gift from a housemaid of the Princess. I didn't know she was missing until a few minutes ago when a drunkard wanted to use me to cash the reward." Otome, had made her career as a courtesan by looking and even sounding like his sister. Mimi had occasionally given her some of her old dresses, which could explain why her abductors would try to mislead the Shirshu here.

Lucky for them, Commander Bumi had a pet Shirshu.

"My uncle is not a bad man, Lord Fire Fountain, if her ladyship can find it in her heart not to press charges against him, it would mean the world to my family. I would like to spare my granny so much pain." The girl pleaded.

"I will ask my sister, but I cannot promise you anything. If it had been before her engagement, the Fire Lord wouldn't have the last word." He said and respectfully took his leave. The policewoman stayed behind to collect Mimi's clothes and other things that would become evidence.

"Has the second team found my sister?" He asked the policeman acting as his guard.

"Yes, there is an unused Future Industries warehouse near the First Lord's Harbor, we have used Miss Azumi's scent to make sure we get it right. I believe Commander Bumi said you would be instrumental in this next part." There was a tiny smirk on the Policeman's face. Naoko was technically a master, but it had been years since he used his bending for something other than for show, light cigarettes and accidentally burn the sheets when Eun felt like being on top.

"Let's hope I don't fuck things up, my darling sister's life depends on it."

"She recognized me, Liu. What do we do now?" Goro asked the knife-guy, Liu.

"We will have bigger problems than that soon enough," Liu said ominously. "The Police have a second Shirshu and they are tracking Azumi. We'll have to run before they get here."

They were thinking of leaving Azumi to her fate. Bastards. They had Mimi feeling pity for her kidnapper.

"Her brother was willing to pay the ransom as long as we leave her here." Azumi, unaware that her lover and Goro were planning to leave her in the dust, interrupts. "Apparently, Lord Fire Fountain came to his senses." She holds up a duffel bag holding ten million yuans. I would've thought I was worth at least twenty million, but I guess the fiancé of a prince is worth less than the wife of the crown prince or the Fire Lady.

If Naoko was nearby as well as the police, then I just had to sit tight and wait for them to rescue me.

"Very generous of his lordship, but you aren't coming with us, Azumi." Liu coldly states. "The Shirshu has your scent and the Movement doesn't need hotheaded girls who don't think things through."

"I think you three won't be leaving the Fire Nation anytime soon, isn't that right, Ping."

Its not my brother nor Iroh who comes to my rescue, but either way I cry out in joy when Commander Bumi bursts through the doors mounted on a Shirshu with a squad of policemen -and women- behind them.

So this chapter will take forever to appear for some of you on ffn. At this point I consider packing my fics and stick to Ao3 where the mods are still around.

A Shirshu is the tracking animal June the bounty hunter uses in AtLA. I know they are supposed to be rare, but I feel like Bumi would have one that was given to him on his wedding by some rich noble wanting to

Rereading the Rise of Kyoshi, I read the part were Zoryu tells Kyoshi that the Fire Nation uses body doubles and keep track of them. Otome, a young sex worker, is Mimi's double. Her name means maiden and is a name that was used by a Japanese Oiran (a.k.a super pretty, very sought after, high ranking prostitutes).

P.s. Kazaori's name is taken from the same name list I found Otome's. Kazaori's name means bending in the wind.


End file.
